The Queen and the Bad Man
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: [WC2011] He's the sort of guy they cleaned out of Crash Town. She's the girl who did the cleaning, and she cleaned him and his team out of the Championships too. So why does he challenge her whenever she goes to the mountain pass? And why does she always accept? [fem-player/Hermann]
1. 1

**A/N:** Written for the Halloween Advent 2015, day 20 - hay rides (write an unintended relationship). Also written for the Mega Prompts Challenge, word prompt #028 - abhorrent (prompt applies to this poem only.

* * *

 **The Queen and the Bad Man**

 **1.**

Picking on the weak is bad taste, you say.  
Picking on the weak is your hobby, you say.  
Picking on the weak is the icing on your cake,  
the crumbs you lick up from an unpaid meal  
and graciousless, and the credits you've swiped  
from that poor guy whose bike broke down  
in front of you.

Too bad for you, then. I'm not weak.  
And you should know. I beat you in the championships,  
after all. Beat you and your team so badly our number three  
didn't need to get on their bike and I could have taken  
a few more of you as well, with the almost full life point meter  
I drove around, and yet you challenge me like I'm just  
another pretty girl who doesn't know the world.  
You're pretty low on the ladder, you know.

I lived in Crash Town. Maybe you forgot,  
maybe you didn't know.  
I beat you and your sorry team.  
I marched off proudly to the finals  
while you lurked in the stands. Me and my friends,  
old and new. I knocked out all three of Team New World  
and I won't pretend I did it on my own, because I didn't  
but the proof's still there, isn't it? I'm not weak.  
I've got the records to prove it, and the skills as well.  
I'll give you a fight. With the way you play,  
I'll probably beat you bad again, but I'm not arrogant  
like you. Still, it's another fact: there aren't many duellists  
who can give me a challenge anymore and you,  
you were never on the list.

Picking on the weak is your hobby, you say,  
but you're the weak one in this pair  
and since you challenged me, I'll pick you off the ground  
if you, and you probably will, lose.  
Just don't whine when you do. And don't do worse.  
I've got enough boys after my number without  
having to add a guy like you.


	2. 2

**A/N:** Written for the Halloween Advent 2015, day 20 - hay rides (write an unintended relationship). Also written for the Mega Prompts Challenge, word prompt #473 - hobbies (prompt applies to this poem only.

* * *

 **The Queen and the Bad Man**

 **2.**

You lose, and you whine about how I need a new hobby?  
Aren't you the one who said you liked to crush the weak?  
Aren't you the one who challenged little old passing me,  
thinking a girl in a dress (outlandish, yes, but it's a favour for Jack  
and he's actually a friend) would be an easy target.  
If you weren't so weak, I'd have worried more.  
If the pass wasn't so empty I would've worried more  
but the duel runner shop's relocated now  
and the only people who come up here are your friends  
and people like us who want to train or ride the harsh mountain roads.

Honestly, if you didn't recognise my duel runner or me, you should  
have remembered that: what the area is famous for, why someone would  
come with a duel runner instead of a car, because it's not the shortcut  
most drivers, the safe sort, really have in mind  
but you challenged me anyway, ignoring all the hints that I might  
be out of your league, that anyone who crosses paths with you here  
might be out of your league. Are you so starved or do you stand  
somewhere else the other days of the week. In that case maybe I should worry.  
I can ask Mina anyway. Or get Misaki or Jack to ask; they're closer.

Anyway, you challenged me. You lost. And you have the gall to criticise  
my choice in hobbies - which, need I point out, you don't even know.  
What's a walkover duel to tell you about what I like? I'm not you  
who gets a laugh out of crushing the weak, or the deplorable.  
I cleaned out Crash Town because I had to. There were kids there, you know.  
Little kids who lost their father, who had nowhere to turn to  
except two teenagers who only had one guardian between  
and that was an old man to boot. Not that Klaus was bad; he's great  
but it's a bit much to ask a man his age  
to look after two teens with licences and two little kids as well;  
we just had to change the place. And the championship was our dream,  
the dream we thought we had to bury in Crash Town, but we dug out  
in the end - and I couldn't have done it without Klaus, without Toru,  
and without Misaki and Team Satisfaction, and Team 5Ds too.  
But I digress. None of that had anything to do with you  
except, maybe, it was a chance for some growth of character  
you never had.

But my hobbies? You don't know them. Collecting every card,  
playing every strategy, playing every duellist - yes, even you,  
and cleaning the world up so there's no Crash Town incarnate  
around the corner, and no people to make it one - that's not a hobby;  
it's my responsibility, now that I know you're here and a stain.

But we'll see just how much of a stain you are.  
Some weeds are fine growing wild after all  
and as far as weeds go, you chose a good place.

I'm not a gardener, for the record. There was only one garden  
in Crash Town and it was Barbara's, and I live in an apartment now.  
It doesn't matter. The only gardens I like are the field spells,  
and the fields filled with monsters and snipping spells  
because what use is a garden by the window if you're on your runner  
and even the wind won't keep up? You've got your own runner.  
You should know. Or maybe you don't.  
Maybe if you had some duelling pride and skill, you would.


	3. 3

**A/N:** Written for the Halloween Advent 2015, day 20 - hay rides (write an unintended relationship). Also written for the Mega Prompts Challenge, word prompt #479 - history (prompt applies to this poem only.

* * *

 **The Queen and the Bad Man**

 **3.**

Looks like you're not so bad, as far as paper goes.  
Bullied a couple of kids years back, and I'm not pleased at all  
because they're kids I know, but they're a tough pair  
and I lost to them three times in a row before I won.  
That was back when we were still building my runner,  
back when I had less than half the cards I have now,  
and maybe a smidge more than half the friends.

But you guys lost to all the important folk. Firago and Corse -  
and they might rule the underground but they're decent folk -  
and Angie and Nelson and Larry and Lug, and that's all  
the under the carpet duels. Quite a few inmates at the prison  
know of you; the guard's a friend of mine too, you know,  
after I beat their security bot and let him in after he got himself locked out.  
The bot's a friend as well. Security fixed him up, and then the deck  
got shuffled about and wound up in front of another famous duel runner track  
but I wouldn't recommend relocating there. Akiza's almost as tough a girl  
as they come, and I'm sure you know of her. The Black Rose ring a bell?  
They'll give any boyfriend I find a thorough raking before he passes  
and he'll have to be made of stern stuff to survive  
let alone in tact - but how did I even get to that topic? I've no interest  
in a date at this point in time. Now where was I?  
Oh yes. I was talking about that sad little record of yours.

I mean, seriously, don't you have any pride? If it weren't for Nicholas  
I doubt you would have even accomplished the little claim to fame  
you have, and it's no claim to be proud of. I mean, was was even the point?  
You could only win so much money from a little kid.  
A lack of humiliation for once in your career was all you got.  
You get booted out of the underground league and resort to picking  
unsuspecting folk off the mountain pass, but you know it's a bad road  
so you'd barely find anyone, now. Or maybe you came here before,  
when the duel runner shop was still open, still bringing in folk  
you could clumsily woe, and those who fell for your charms  
must have been pretty clueless to do so, considering what I've seen,  
what proof I have, and what I've been told.

You're not so bad as far as bad goes, but you're not good either  
which makes you a waste of space in the end, the sort that's brushed aside, the sort that can become dangerous if left to grow  
and I said I wasn't a gardener, and I'm not, but I have my shears out  
nonetheless because you're the first weed I came across when coming up to the mountain path, and it's a strong and tender path  
so it's a shame to have a weed growing there.

Though, if you're smart, you'll relocate after that defeat.


	4. 4

**A/N:** Written for the Halloween Advent 2015, day 20 - hay rides (write an unintended relationship). Also written for the Mega Prompts Challenge, word prompt #466 - effect (prompt applies to this poem only.

* * *

 **The Queen and the Bad Man**

 **4.**

You're not that smart, it seems.  
Not only are you still there, waiting, but you challenge me again.

What makes you think you'll win this time? Your deck looks the same.  
Your pickup line's the same as well. I guess I'll humour you though;  
you're still that same stain and for some reason it irks me to see you there,  
irks me to listen to you. Still thinking I'm weak, with that mediocre brain  
of yours? You'd think you'd remember a five match loss  
and without a single life point from yor opponent lost as well.

It doesn't matter, I guess. I won't back down from any duel, lest of all  
someone like you who really needs to be taught a lesson and it looks like  
I'm the appointed teacher for you. But I may as well get something  
for my pay: I've got lots of cards and strategies I'm yet to use, after all  
and you spent so long in fruitless defence I wonder what else you have.

We'll see now, I suppose. Let's try something with a few more chains  
and less flare this time. We'll duel, and we'll duel with a lockdown  
this time. It takes a bit, but not terribly long. You get Speed Storm in  
which isn't a hard task, in the end, except when to draw it out at first  
but to beat someone with that one card will take more time than I'll give.  
I'm not generous, you know. I'll give you a bit of time, perhaps,  
but not enough to cost me: only what I can afford before I think  
it might be a challenge to come back, after all. I won't just throw the duel  
but still, I had the cards three turns before I summoned Plasma out  
to ruin all your traps, and Royal Decree and Horus were already there  
to take care of all the rest. They take a while - Plasma needs three  
sacrificed on its own, but at least Royal Decree is an easy draw,  
especially with a certain cat to help it on its way.  
I've seen no such strategy from you yet. Planting bombs  
under my monsters until Plasma drew a red sign over all of them.  
Leaving traps to switch my monster's modes as though they'll  
slow, and then stand still with age. And the rare spell that you waste  
on forcing my monster to its knees instead of delivering a useful blow.  
And then there's Speed Storm. Why play all these tricks?

I wonder why I care. I've seen all sorts of duellists: good ones, bad ones  
and decks as well, and tricks like yours will take a long time to bear spoilt fruit,  
if they ever do. Why keep at it? And why be so arrogant  
you call every opponent and passerby weak, when you can be knocked  
into the dust in a few short turns; you don't have the deck to back it up  
and here's victory number three for me to chew upon.


	5. 5

**A/N:** Written for the Halloween Advent 2015, day 20 - hay rides (write an unintended relationship). Also written for the Mega Prompts Challenge, word prompt #443 - school (prompt applies to this poem only.

* * *

 **The Queen and the Bad Man**

 **5.**

And you say it again. I need new hobbies. You say it with a glint  
as though you see something I've missed throughout the brawl.  
Ridiculous. I'm not the one who wasted three traps  
when you only needed one, and a better one would have seen you  
last a longer match. Fiendish Chain, I'll give you, is at least a catchy one  
but there are staple cards in every deck to take care of that,  
and Speed World Two as well. And why play a monster with only  
a hundred points in attack mode when you can't use its effect  
or defend it with a timely placed trap? Why lay out bait  
when you can't follow through with the net?

You're mind-boggling. How did you even survive this long  
with those sorts of skills? Why hasn't the mountain run  
you off the road already? Even your two friends aren't so bad; at least  
they manage to summon out an attacking monster once per duel,  
and, occasionally, they can take a monster of mine to the grave.  
Something that calls for backup or has a useful, destructive, effect  
for the most part; a trap like the traps you like to hide  
beneath your monster cards, except you always fall for them  
and I don't; I know what to expect.

I guess I can't blame you lot for falling for these traps, though;  
it's rarely the same deck. Multitasking, I guess; I may as well make use  
of your challenge. I can earn more credits elsewhere after all,  
and gain more of a challenge too. Instead I'll take my spares. The school  
could use them, or the duel shop. That rental tournament so long ago  
had lit a fire that I'd almost let smoulder out. And I've got the cards  
to spare, and the time as well. Maybe I'll even make a deck  
that can match yours, draw the match out longer...

All the things that can become a challenge, nowadays.  
If you're fool enough to challenge me next time, at least.


	6. 6

**A/N:** Written for the Halloween Advent 2015, day 20 - hay rides (write an unintended relationship). Also written for the Mega Prompts Challenge, word prompt #433 - smash (prompt applies to this poem only.

* * *

 **The Queen and the Bad Man**

 **6.**

Do you even try? At least your friends say  
they'll advance, though they've no shortage of arrogance  
between themselves. They can at least be annoying for a while  
and yet you're the first in line, the first to challenge me,  
the one who says I'm weak, the one who criticises  
my hobbies - which you still don't know - when you lose.

I don't get you. I just don't get you, and I don't need to  
as well because the moment there's any notion of trouble  
in this bottleneck, I know who'll be the cause  
and then I'll deal with you. And you won't be able to stand  
when I do. I wonder, will you say the same thing then?  
That I'm weak. That I need better hobbies than you say  
you claim to have - where are these weak victims of yours?  
You had one, and he wasn't weak, and that was so many years ago.  
You've lost every other thing. Is there an inner masochist  
in you? That riles up people to see you lose?  
Is this some sort of a game to you?

What sort of a game can you play  
when your opponent holds the cards, and the reins?  
Why do you keep on playing it?

You fought harder in the tournament, though it was still an easy win.  
What's with now? How many duels have we fought? I'm playing you  
with decks for an eight year old and I still win with more  
than half my points in tact.  
Where's your pride? I know I've asked you before, but I haven't seen  
a speck of it yet. Just arrogance. And duelling you isn't giving me  
an answer this time. Not like with Sherry and Randsborg. Not like  
Team New World. Not like the sad old ghost who now has a better home.  
Where's your answer then? Not in your past, not in your deck  
and your friends eye us like we're putting a show on for them  
and maybe we are. It better not be the dress,  
or I'm going to have to have a few extra words to Jack about his designing skills. And his people skills, though at least he has  
the skills to back it up.

And at least when we crush you in a tag team, Nicholas has the grace  
to groan about his fall from grace - not that he ever seemed to have any grace  
but you - you've got that patronising shake of the head  
still there, and I'm tempted to tell Jack he can feel free to punch it out of you  
because it and you are really starting to get on my nerves.


	7. 7

**A/N:** Written for the Halloween Advent 2015, day 20 - hay rides (write an unintended relationship). Also written for the Mega Prompts Challenge, word prompt #436 - development (prompt applies to this poem only.

* * *

 **The Queen and the Bad Man**

 **7.**

Sure, you're a bad guy, you say.  
That you weren't lucky enough to get to the top.  
That you had to squander along with what you had.  
Should I really believe that? Your cards match too well  
to be a haphazard deck thrown together, and I should know.  
We didn't have a card shop in Crash Town for a while, you know.  
Not until that duel tournament. Our decks were a random mismatch  
of cards, so I know how a mismatch should look.  
The three of you are playing triplet dressups with your decks  
except yours is the worst of them. It's not meant to win on its own.

It won't win on its own. Let you win, you say?  
Why should I do that? Why don't you try to win by yourself.  
Do you like where you are so much?

Yes. Yes, you say. You do.  
What about it? I'm curious; I'll admit. What is it about this life  
that holds you? What drug is it that's ensnared you here  
when you could have tried going forward instead. Do you like  
the smell of duel runner exhaust and mountain pass dirt so much?  
Do you like the taste of defeat so much?

There doesn't seem to be any way to get answers out of you  
unless I ask, and so I ask. And you just laugh in that patronising way  
and ask a question right back:  
'Is it fun to win?'

Is it fun to lose?


	8. 8

**A/N:** Written for the Halloween Advent 2015, day 20 - hay rides (write an unintended relationship). Also written for the Mega Prompts Challenge, word prompt #397 - behaviour (prompt applies to this poem only.

* * *

 **The Queen and the Bad Man**

 **8.**

Is it fun to win? I guess that depends  
on the opponent, on the match, on what's at stake - or what's not  
because, in an interim, there was too much at stake in every match  
and we grew up fast from it. And now we've left the world behind.  
We're too strong. There's six or eight or ten of us on the level  
and sometimes not even that.

When was the last time I lost, I wonder? And with which deck?  
I've gained a knack for it, and I've got so many cards to use  
at my fingertips. Maybe it did become too easy. Not like the runners  
who always went to a new speed, added a new complexity  
to the course, and the mountain pass saw me more and more -

I'm not moping, no matter what Grandpa says. I'm not hopelessly in love  
like Toru claims - and he would claim that. He's practically my brother  
so I suppose it's part of the job description. Though Misaki looks more worried.  
She knows about you, of course. I asked. And now I have to explain how I'm not  
falling heads over heels with a criminal who hasn't even earned the title,  
and who can't duel their way out of a paper can. I've got better standards than that  
except the pair of them just shake their heads and say I'm spellbound  
when I'm clearly not.

And I don't know how you find out, but you do. Maybe it's Toru  
running his motor-mouth again; I wouldn't be surprised.  
But I think it's something more. I've underestimated you somewhere.  
We have more of a chat this time, and you list your successes:  
getting under my skin, peaking my interest - like those things are worth  
all the money you've lost when you can barely afford to lose,

And then my faults, because, you start again with my lack of hobbies,  
and throw in arrogance for good measure. I might feel insulted  
except I laugh instead because how many times have I thought  
the same of you? And maybe I've lost a few marbles somewhere  
because I go on laughing, and I'm barely listening, or thinking,  
when you want to race - race, not duel - and I go along with you.

And at least this time it makes sense, because you can't seem to win a duel  
for the life of you, but you can ride a duel runner.


	9. 9

**A/N:** Written for the Halloween Advent 2015, day 20 - hay rides (write an unintended relationship). Also written for the Mega Prompts Challenge, word prompt #400 - grain (prompt applies to this poem only.

* * *

 **The Queen and the Bad Man**

 **9.**

Am I a rabbit in your trap, I wonder? You like hiding them  
where you think no-one sees, but I thought I'd had them all  
so why are we still here? Why are we still dancing  
this same dance? Why do I still come to meet you here  
on the mountain pass?

Spellbound, perhaps, was right. Akiza thinks it's the adventure  
that simply a strong duellist can never give another strong.  
Maybe she's seeing something I don't as well. She laughs  
and says I'm too uptight. Says I should just enjoy the chance  
and try not to toss him off the mountain path or into jail  
while I'm at it. Fair enough, I guess. Might be interesting  
and I don't have an awful lot to lose, or that someone like him  
can just swoop in and take away.

Still, I wish I knew what went on in that head of yours.  
Now those sounds more like a test than a silly pick-up line.  
I flunked it, didn't I? I guess I must have but I still can't work out why.  
You're still a masochist and a hopeless fool to me.  
You attacked Yubel when her ability just reflects damage right back.  
You destroyed Yubel when you knew she'd only come back even tougher  
You challenge me even though you know you're going to lose again  
and what are you going to do when your meagre cash runs out?  
I doubt your friends will stay. They're laughing, now, aren't they?  
They want to get ahead and you're lagging behind  
or is all this just a ploy  
you three have made together? But you chose a poor target. I'm not sympathetic.  
Not to people who remind me like the old Crash Town anyway.

Do you want me to save you? Is that it?  
You're Cindarella and I'm the charming queen who'll sweet you up  
and dress you up in fine clothes and take you to the ball and court you  
then and there? Maybe it is cruel to say no, but I wouldn't trust you  
that far. Not yet. Maybe not ever because you're a slippery eel  
under that simpleton personna of yours and I don't plan  
on letting myself get stuck. We can have fun, though. Akiza is right there.  
I don't have to be the pretty clean white queen, bored out of my skull  
and you wormed your way under my skin just like you wanted, just like you tried.  
Let's see on what wobbly road you plan to go and take me on  
and I'll be the curious snake, not sheep, that slithers along.


End file.
